


Of Tall, Dark, Handsome Men

by anon33125



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-11 07:15:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7035346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anon33125/pseuds/anon33125
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one shots in order to depict the story of Richard and Lee's friendship and eventual relationship. Slow burn. <br/>And fair warning, lots of pointless fluff ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Breakfast and Butts

**Author's Note:**

> I've never really been one for RPF, but these two were just screaming for it (two gorgeous men who clearly enjoy spending time together ;) ;) ). I don't think they're actually a couple in real life, but I like to think that this story could at least be possible :D  
> I hope you enjoy! Comments welcome!

Lee Pace was not the sort of man to sit around and mope. In fact, he was more the sort of man to put on a smile and do something about the melancholy because he really hated feeling so depressed. Unfortunately, having just ended a long-term relationship with Carter, his (now ex) live-in boyfriend, barely weeks before flying to New Zealand for The Hobbit had left him in a marginally worse mood than he really wanted. The most frustrating part about his whole situation is that Lee truly wanted to be enjoying himself with these movies. They were full of brilliant and wonderful people; energetic and excitable people; just generally the sort of people that Lee usually made fast friends with. 

It was still relatively early in the morning two weeks in to Lee living in New Zealand, about 7:30am, but there was plenty of energy bounding around the cafeteria. Un-made up elves were meandering in to caffeinate for the day, prosthetic-ed and wigged dwarves were talking each other up having reached their mid-morning crash, and various members of the crew could be seen in all corners of the building blustering about. Lee himself had a nice big mug of strong black coffee and was idly stirring in the nonexistent remains of a single sugar cube. 

“You’re staring again,” Evie’s voice in his ear startled Lee out of his contemplative reverie. 

“No I’m not,” he automatically responded, at the same time zoning in on the person who he’d happened to be staring off into space at. He mentally berated himself as he did so though, since his vision honed in on long dark curls with streaks of silver, a short thick dark brown beard, and bright blue eyes peeking out of a strong-boned face. A long, leanly muscled body settling gracefully back onto a bench with a large mug of something steaming in it. Richard freaking Armitage. Again. Lee quickly averted his gaze to scowl down at his coffee. “I can’t help it if he keeps standing right in my line of vision.” 

Evangeline chuckled softy and nudged him with her elbow. “Alright, well, if you weren’t looking at him on purpose again, what were you thinking about?” 

“Carter,” Lee answered, semi-truthfully. Really he’d been contemplating whether he was even worth a relationship anymore. Clearly 3 years wasn’t commitment enough and the other man was already entering a relationship with someone new. Barely a month broken up. Twat. 

Evie’s attitude changed quickly from playful to concerned. “You really shouldn’t keep wasting your energy worrying about Carter,” she offered. “He’s clearly not thinking about you.”

“Mm, thanks for reminding me,” Lee replied sarcastically, even though he knew she meant well. 

“We’ll just have to find some way to keep your mind off him!” Evie suggested, then narrowed her eyes in thought as she took a deep gulp of her own coffee. Her gaze shifted to the table of dwarves that Lee had been glancing at earlier.

“What are we talking about?” Luke Evans sidled in to one of the seats at the circular table with Evie and Lee. 

“Richard Armitage,” Evie answered without missing a beat. Lee flashed a quick, grateful smile to Evie; sure Armitage wasn’t really the topic he wanted to be languishing over, but it was several notches up from having to explain the Carter saga to Luke. 

“Ah,” Luke nodded sagely and took a bite of the bearclaw he’d brought to the table with him. “Great arse.” 

Both Lee and Evie choked slightly at the open admission, Lee even brought a napkin to his face as he spluttered, hoping to hide the blush that flew to his cheeks.

“Who has a great arse?” Orlando slid himself gracefully into the seat next to Lee, raising a single eyebrow along with the question to his friends. 

“Richard Armitage apparently,” Evie answered, visibly forcing herself not to look at the dwarf table again. 

“Hmm,” Orlando took a sip of his tea. “Can’t say that I’ve noticed this.” 

Orlando glanced around Lee to see the table of dwarves, then turned back to his current table and gave them a cheeky grin. “Looks like we’ll get to see it now, Evie, they’re getting up.”

Lee resisted the urge to hunch down lower in his seat. Maybe he would have preferred bitching about Carter than being forced to think about Richard Armitage’s ass. Luke and Evie, on the other hand, both immediately straightened up and twisted in their seats to get a good view of the men leaving the cafeteria. 

Evie let out a very low, appreciative hum. 

“Not really my type,” Orlando summed up, turning back to his mug. “But you can’t deny he’s put some good work into it.” 

“Excellent fantasy material,” Luke added, “pity he’s straight though.” 

Lee felt an uninvited sting in his chest at that comment and couldn’t resist then looking up at the dwarves. He immediately wished he’d stuck with his previous impulse though, since Richard was staring right back at them. 

As soon as their eyes locked, Richard raised an eyebrow at Lee in question. Shit, yup, he definitely noticed their staring. Lee gave him an exaggerated eye roll in response and light shake of his head. Richard’s face softened into a gentle (heartmelting) smile, before turning back to talk with Graham McTavish beside him. 

Lee whipped his head back around to his own table, already feeling the heat creep up his cheeks, and staring determinedly at his remaining coffee. Unfortunately, he’d already noticed several times that the man had a delectable behind. Well, at least Evie had succeeded in taking his mind off Carter. Now he just had to focus on not coming across as a complete imbecile in front of Armitage….


	2. Conversation at the Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cast take a trip to the beach, Richard and Lee get to talking :)

As days turned into weeks of filming, the cast and crew became increasingly comfortable with each other. They now had inside jokes and pub nights, knew birthdays and anniversaries, and, perhaps most importantly, they could enjoy just spending time together. Although the elves and humans had joined the main cast significantly later than the dwarves and hobbits, by the end of Lee’s first month, he felt that he’d been caught up on most of the gossip and goings-on. So when the opportunity arose (along with the entire cast on a full weekend off), Lee jumped to come on a trip to the beach. The beach was a relatively secluded one, which Dean had assured them only the locals knew about. They actually had to walk through a sheep pasture in order to get to the ocean, but when they got there, the view was simply breathtaking. 

Once arriving, the group of dwarves and elves broke off into their own clusters. Dean pulled Aidan, Adam, and Graham off to explore some of the caves, since they’d happily arrived at low tide. Orlando and Evie both had brought their young children with them, so they went to dig holes and play with the little dump trucks they’d brought along. Lee debated briefly whether he wanted to spend time with his fellow elves, but as Richard slipped away from Martin’s family, he opted to go for a stroll. 

Over the past couple weeks, Lee had come to several conclusions about Mr. Armitage. The first was that the man was unbelievably private, the cast themselves had only recently found out about the existence of his brother and nephew due to a card arriving at the studio, addressed to Richard, that had clearly been made by a child. The next thing Lee had noted was that Richard was quite easily the single most attractive person in cast and crew combined. Though he knew many of his co-workers would favor Aidan, Orlando, Evie, or Luke, Lee himself just couldn’t get over Richard. The man was tall, with smoothly carved muscles, a great ass, quiet easy manners, a dry witty sense of humor, and of course, that wonderful voice. To Lee’s mind, it was a no-brainer, Richard won that award hands down. And perhaps that last of the most significant things that Lee had learned about Richard was that the older man was unpresumptuous and surprisingly easy to talk to, once you got past his initial reservedness. 

Since both Lee and Richard had longer legs than most of their cast-mates of the day, they ended up nicely in step with one another, strolling at the edge of the beach. 

“So, how much running have you lot done this week?” Lee asked politely, trying to get a conversation going that hopefully wouldn’t embarrass him too much. 

“I think Pete’s started filming another movie that he hasn’t yet told us about,” Richard offered, smiling slightly while shaking his head in exasperation. “It’s not all bad though, I sleep better at night now than I have in a long time.” 

“I can understand that,” Lee chuckled. “I wish I could be a bit more active on set. I feel like all I do is get fit for dresses and sit on thrones.” 

“I’m sure you’ll get some action when we start on the final battle. Until then though, we must keep your precious arse safe,” Richard offered. 

Lee felt his face heat up, remembering the conversation about a certain man’s ass at the breakfast table almost a month ago, and turned away to think up a witty come-back. “Yeah, cuz my precious ass is going to be the one that comes and saves your mountain. With no help from you, by the way.” 

“Yeah,” Richard gave a soft chuckle then gazed contemplatively out over the ocean, breeze ruffling his short hair. “I’ve been trying to work out what the dragon sickness feels like or what it can relate to in terms of the real world. The most I’ve come up with is just a self-absorption so profound that it kind of drags you…. Down into a depression and loneliness so deep that the only thing you can think of to cure it is to hide yourself in something… Cover yourself in what makes you feel… powerful, I guess.”

Lee found himself nodding slowly. “When I went back and read that bit from Tolkein, it was definitely easier to relate to in terms of depression and the desire to hoard materials instead of acknowledging feelings of doubt or insecurity.” 

“Right,” Richard murmured. “A king suddenly faced with the fact that he has his legacy, people to protect, and no one to show him how it’s done. But all that’s been lectured to him, all his life, is that it’s the materials, the gold, the jewels; those are what matter…” 

Richard trailed off then, and the two got quiet as they continued their walk. Lee thought if there was any more he had to offer to Richard about feeling the dragon sickness, but as he looked at the other man’s face, he realized that Richard was still lost deep in the thought of his character. So Lee remained quiet and looked up to watch the Nesbit and Freeman children playing in the waves, while thinking about his own character representation and if he was putting enough thought into Thranduil’s rationale. 

After several minutes, Richard’s voice suddenly penetrated Lee’s thoughts and Lee actually had to blink, turning towards the other man to ask him to repeat what he’d just said (or actually blink, stumble, and say “What?” in a rather bleary voice). 

“Do you want to have kids?” Richard repeated, a smirk in his voice. “I apologize, I can get way too involved with Thorin if someone’s not there to stop me. But, we have the whole weekend off, so we ought to talk about lighter subjects.” 

“Oh, it’s alright,” Lee said, referring to Richard’s apology. “I’m not sure the subject of kids is actually a lighter subject though, I just had a long-term relationship end a few months ago.” 

“Oh shit,” Richard muttered. “I’m sorry. I think I did hear a rumor about that. Pretend I didn’t ask.” 

“No, it’s ok. I think I’d like to have kids someday, I just wouldn’t want to do it alone, you know?” Lee shrugged. “Besides, I don’t think Carter was really interested in them. It was hard enough to get him comfortable with Carl.” 

“That was actually a similar situation with me and Annabel. She was looking for marriage and children while my career was finally just starting. Now that I see so many actors my age with families, I sometimes still wonder if my decision then was the right one. I worry that I’m too old. I wouldn’t want to be in my 70’s when my kids are in high school,” Richard responded. 

“You’ve got a good twenty years before that should be a concern,” Lee offered, forcing himself to be more cheerful than the direction the conversation seemed to be heading.

“I guess, but I’ve been single now for a good three years since Annie and it seems to be notoriously difficult to find those special important people when you’re famous.”

“Unless, of course, they’re famous too,” Lee sighed. He’d also heard that particular advice from his equally (if not more) famous friend in the States, Matt. 

“Well, anyway, who is Carl?” Richard asked, turning his attention away from the sea and back to Lee. Seeming to remember Lee’s initial response. 

“My dog,” Lee grinned, thinking of Carl always brought a smile to his face, even if it did make him a bit homesick. “He’s a rescue bull dog mutt, staying with my sister until I get back home.” 

“Ah, I love dogs, always wanted one. My brother has an old sheepdog that failed his training and his owners just basically abandoned him. His name is Timmy; he’s been a riot since Abel was born.” 

“Abel is your nephew?” Lee questioned. 

“Yup, 5 years old now. I think Timmy is 10.”

“I’ve got a few nieces and nephews, thanks to my brother and sister marrying and reproducing,” Lee smiled and Richard snorted. “They’re great kids though, I love them all to bits.” 

“And, I’m guessing Carter is your ex then?” Richard asked hesitantly after a couple moments of quiet. 

“Yep, he and I were coming up on four years together. Longest relationship I’ve ever had,” Lee sighed, feeling the smile slip from his face. He was surprised Richard didn’t bring up the gay thing. Most people did, when they found out Lee dated men, but still Richard hadn’t seemed to really think anything of it. 

“That’s longer than any relationship I’ve had. Annie was about two years,” Richard paused for a moment thinking. “And so was Chloe, come to that, but the last six months or so were pretty on and off.” 

“I think most of my relationships have been about a year, give or take,” Lee said. “I have a tendency to hang on too long and really can’t do the whole no strings attached thing.” 

“Me neither,” Richard agreed. “Especially since having a public image, I’ve never been more uncomfortable with the idea of a one-night stand. Or any sort of physical relationship without trust.” 

“Mm,” Lee murmured in assent. Then something else Richard had said clicked in his brain. “Wait, so you haven’t had sex in three years?”

“Ah… No,” it was Richard’s turn to have his face heat up and his attention was back on the waves.

“Do you masturbate? Cuz I’ve read articles about how important sex is to a man’s health and just because you look really fit and all, that doesn’t mean that you’re not like building up testicular cancer or some---thing,” Lee’s voice faded as he realized what he was saying. Richard was now looking at him, eyebrows raised and lips pressed firmly together. 

“Do you realize that you just asked me if I wank? On the beach. With children not ten feet in front of us?” Richard’s voice sounded like a genuine mixture of amusement and confusion as Lee’s face turned beet red. 

“Yeah….. Sometimes my mouth just says things,” Lee started, resisting the urge to face palm. “That didn’t really get through my brain filter…” 

Richard gave loud, deep laugh at that and at the sound of it, Lee couldn’t hold back a sheepish grin. 

“So…. Conversation change then?” Lee asked, when he got a little of his composure back. “What’s the most recent non-Tolkein book that you’ve read?”

Richard didn’t stop chuckling to himself as they continued ambling along the beach. But something about the intimacy and awkwardness of their conversation had broken down a wall neither one of them had realized was there. Their topics flowed easily from books to television series to old movies to the only respectable types of music and everywhere in between. Lee and Richard were nearly the last ones to leave the beach, but Lee couldn’t hide the feeling that maybe, just maybe, he and Richard could have become friends. And not just coworker, ‘let’s complain about our jobs and drink coffee’ friends, but real ‘call me at 3 AM when you need ice cream and someone to listen’ friends. And that was a wonderful feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for the comments and the kudos!!! I'm glad you seem to like it so far!  
> I'll definitely try to keep the updates pretty regular, but they'll keep coming as I have the ideas  
> Suggestions are welcome as well, so if there's any situation you think would fit into this story line, let me know! :D


	3. Van Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short and sweet ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for Richard falling asleep on Lee's shoulder comes from foreverdistracted and their story Crossed Wires  
> I wanted to do something a bit different with the dialogue and overall scene, but I really like their idea, so thanks :) I wanted to give credit where credit was due

When word came from Pete that the elves were going into the forest with the dwarves, Lee was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement. He didn’t think he would get to do any location shooting while on The Hobbit! The dwarves were going to be entering Mirkwood and possibly doing some running for the infamous Scene 88. Lee would be doing a single scene with Orlando and a forest backdrop, but otherwise he was pretty much just along for the ride. Honestly, that was perfectly alright with him. Even though the elves would be shooting with second unit and the dwarves with first, they were going to the same section of forest, since it was all supposed to be very Mirkwood-esque; this meant that all the actors would be squished up in a couple big vans with as much prosthetics as possible for the 3.5 hour drive. And they would be leaving by 6 AM, which was early for an elf who wasn’t usually necessary on set until after 9.

Martin grabbed Lee’s elbow as he made for one of the vans, day bag slung over his shoulder with water bottle, sweater, book, and granola bars in it.

“Sit next to Richard,” Martin hissed in his ear.

“Sure,” Lee responded amiably, but confused for Martin’s insistence. “Why?”

“He was filming with me until 11 last night, then had a meeting with Fran and Phil, and still had to be in for prosthetics at 4 this morning. He had better sleep on the drive or he’s going to be unbearable and you have the highest shoulders,” Martin whispered quickly, all while nudging Lee forward to get into the van following Thorin wearing a tank top and sweatpants.

“Relax,” Lee muttered. The whole cast and crew was well aware by now just how grumpy Richard could get when he hadn’t had enough sleep. It fit well with his Thorin persona for the movies, but off camera it was really best to just leave him alone at that point. With the location shooting though, it was quite difficult to truly be alone, since the safety crew needed to know where everyone was at all times. “I’ll sit next to him and feed him sleeping pills if I must.”

“Good,” Martin nodded, satisfied and let Lee climb into the van.

Richard had already set himself up next to the window, pulled out his iPad, was fiddling with an app and nursing a large steaming travel mug of tea. Lee clambered into the van next to him and shifted his bag to the floor on top of his feet.

“Good morning!” He greeted, careful not to be too cheerful and risk getting Richard annoyed at him before the day had really even started.

“Morning,” Richard rumbled in return, not looking up from his iPad. Well, he got a response, that was better than Lee had expected.

As the van shifted into motion, the ruckus of getting several dwarves and an elf comfortable quieted down. A few of the dwarves had books or electronics open while others just listened to music and the noise level became much more comfortable. Richard had slouched down in his seat but seemed determined to stay awake with his attention focused on his iPad.

“You know, Rich, you can sleep,” Lee murmured softly after a while.

“I’m fine,” Richard rumbled back, shifting in his seat again.

“What are you reading?” Lee tried again, leaning over slightly to look over Richard’s shoulder.

“ _Storm of Swords_ ,” he responded. Lee remembered him mentioning that he was rereading the Game of Thrones books in order to refresh his memory before he bought the newest release. Lee grinned at that though, he also happened to be reading the series, even if he’d started reading it because the TV show had come out unlike Richard who’d been with it since the first book was released.

“Mind if I read along?” Lee asked. Richard didn’t respond but instead shrugged and shifted his iPad so they both could read the screen.

About 20 minutes later, Lee was glad he’d asked, Richard was slumped over with his head nestled on the crook of Lee’s shoulder. Sleeping on someone’s shoulder was much more comfortable than trying to sleep with your head against a bouncing, vibrating window. He was also eternally grateful he didn’t have to make good on his promise to Martin to force feed Richard sleeping pills. As motionlessly as he could, Lee clicked Richard’s iPad off and someone handed a blanket over the back of the seat to tuck Richard in. Apparently Lee wasn’t the only one Martin had approached to make sure Richard slept.

Truthfully though, Martin needn’t have worried. Within another half an hour, most of the van had fallen asleep, with the exception of Lee, the driver, and Graham in the passenger seat. Lee took the opportunity of the silence and relative privacy to look over at the man sleeping on his shoulder.

The two of them had become friends since the day on the beach a week ago, but it wasn’t quite the dramatic turnover that Lee had been expecting. Richard still very much carried the presence of Thorin on his shoulders, which made him especially distant to Lee whenever he was on set or in his Elven gear. But still, they’d eaten a few meals at the same table and were generally still very friendly towards each other when off set. And even with the Thorin wig and nose on, Lee still felt a sort of contentedness with having the older man asleep on his shoulder. He had long since acknowledged that he had a crush on Richard Armitage, that much was quite obvious. However, knowing from the very beginning that 1, Richard was straight and 2, he had just broken up with Carter and really did not need to be looking for a new relationship, made his crush that much more bearable. He didn’t feel as though he was pining and that, in itself, was quite a nice change for Lee.

“Shit,” Richard muttered, shifting slightly out of his sleep and jolting Lee out of his reverie.

“Go back to sleep,” Lee murmured softly, nudging his shoulder back under Richard’s cheek.

“No, ‘M fine,” Richard slurred slightly this time, trying to sit up again. Lee shifted so that his arm curled around Richard’s shoulders, dragged the blanket back up, and pulled Richard back in to his side. As he did so, he felt Richard tense up in response, as if the touch was unwanted.

“Sorry,” Lee withdrew his arm and couldn’t help feeling the pit of his stomach drop. A lot of straight men got uncomfortable when a bi or gay man touched them in really any way other than a handshake. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“S’ok,” Richard responded, their voices stayed quiet enough not to be heard even by those who were still awake. “ ‘M not offended.”

“Oh good,” Lee said, but he didn’t replace his arm, instead he just slouched further down in his seat to encourage Richard’s head to fall back onto his shoulder on its own. Which it did after another minute. Richard yawned and stretched a little in seat, then settled back down to go back to sleep.

“Lost my virginity to a guy,” Richard murmured, as he nuzzled Lee’s neck and fell back asleep.

Lee, on the other hand, was now more wide awake than ever. His jaw dropped and his eyes popped open as wide as they could go. He fought down the urge to cry “WHAT?!”

“You ok, Lee?” Graham asked, having just happened to turn around in the front seat.

“Yeh,” he said, a bit dazed. “Weird dream.”

“Must have been,” Graham chuckled and turned back to the front. Lee’s brain worked a mile a minute as he attempted to figure out what exactly he was going to do with this new particular bit of information.


	4. Late Night Wine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard wants company and Lee wants dinner.

                Lee practically fell into his trailer after a long day of sword training and filming. He flicked the light switch on, kicked off his shoes, and then just collapsed on the small bed in one corner. He gazed hopelessly at the ceiling and wished, not for the first time, that he had someone to cook dinner for him or make him some delicious cocktail or other. Honestly Lee wasn’t really that needy, but Orlando had practically skipped home to his mother’s home-cooking and Evie’s husband, who was visiting, had called her an hour ago to get her order for take-out. This was the part that sucked about being alone. Although, if he was being perfectly honest, even if he and Carter were still together, that wouldn’t make Carter magically appear in New Zealand. Instead, the only difference would be that Lee would call Carter, complain about being tired and not wanting to make food, then end up getting up and doing it anyway. But still, Lee liked to think it might have made a difference.

                Lee wasn’t quite sure how long he had been drifting off, hungry, lying flat on his back with his legs dangling off the edge of the far too short bed when there was a knock on the door that caused him to jump to his feet.

                “Who is it?” He called, hoping not to sound like he’d been sulking for well over an hour.

                “It’s just me, Lee,” came Richard’s deep baritone.

                “It’s unlocked,” Lee responded quickly, sitting up straight, hoping to look somewhat composed. “You can come on in.”

                “Hey,” said Richard, peeking his head in the door. “I hear you elves had a long day.”

                “Yeah, I’ll be honest, I’m dead tired,” Lee said, stifling a yawn.

                “Do you want me to go?” Richard asked, his face falling slightly.

                “No!” Lee gasped, he definitely didn’t want to lose the company.

                Richard chuckled warmly and came the rest of the way into the trailer, revealing a bottle of wine and two glasses, which he held up sheepishly. Lee’s face broke out into a huge grin.

                “If you keep showing up like that, you are welcome here any time!” Lee said with a wink. “What’s the occasion?”

                “Nothing really,” Richard replied, placing the glasses on the counter and rummaging for a corkscrew. “We spent all day in the barrels and I had quite a bit of energy left when I got home, so I wanted to just chill out with someone, I guess.”

                “Works for me,” Lee said, grinning. “I’ve been laying here trying to work up the energy to cook. I’m starving.”

                “I’d offer to make something, but I’m afraid all I can do is eggs, sausage, and pasta,” Richard handed Lee a glass of a nice red chateau wine.

                “Odd assortment,” Lee snorted.

                “I get by,” Richard shrugged and took a sip of his own wine. “I could make pasta if you want. Or we could do take away. Probably just Chinese or that pizza place are still open.”

                “Johnny’s?” Lee asked, grimacing as Richard nodded confirmation. “That pizza place is awful. Evie and I went one night and shared a plain cheese pizza, it was terrible. We couldn’t even finish a medium pan between the two of us.”

                “Yeah, I think Jimmy mentioned that he’s pretty sure his girls got sick from there.”

                “Chinese, then?” Lee offered, not wanting to make Richard cook since it clearly wasn’t something he enjoyed doing. “I don’t think Chinese really goes with red wine though.”

                “Red wine goes with anything if you try,” Richard grinned and picked his cell phone out of his pocket.

                As Richard place the order, Lee got off his bed and cleared some space on the couch in his trailer, shifting piles of books, papers, and scripts to get to the actual cushions.

                “I’ll be back in a few,” Richard said, hanging up and grabbing his keys. “See if you can find something good on Netflix?”

                “Yeah, I’ll do that,” said Lee, digging the remote to his tv out of the couch cushions. “And I’ll even clean off the table.”

                Richard laughed and gave him a quick thumbs up before heading out the door.

 

                When Richard got back, Lee had managed to clean his entire kitchen alcove area as well as the couch and pull out a couple of his favorite DVDs they could choose from after they finished eating (and if Richard wanted to stay). The remainder of the wine was in the fridge and two plates and two sets of chopsticks were set out on the small table.

                They scooped out fried rice, peppered beef, and lemon chicken onto their plates while chatting about the manager lady who could barely speak English and then delved into a companionable silence as they (Lee) shoveled food into their mouths.

                “So,” Lee began, leaning back in his seat with his stomach now pleasantly sated. There was a question he’d been wanting to approach Richard about for a few weeks now, but they hadn’t really been alone enough for him to feel comfortable about bringing it up. “You lost your virginity to a guy?”

                Richard sputtered out the sip of wine he’d just taken and looked at Lee with complete confusion on his face. “How the _hell_ do you know that?”

                “You told me,” Lee said, smirking slightly at having taken Richard aback. “That day you slept on my shoulder on the way to location.”

                “Does the whole van know?” Richard asked, cautiously, pushing around a piece of broccoli on his plate rather than looking at Lee directly.

                “Nah,” Lee said gently, taking pity on the older man. “They were all asleep by then. I wasn’t even sure I’d heard you right.”

                “Ah,” Richard blushed, still not taking his eyes from his plate. “Well, you did.”

                “So… Do I get to hear the story?” Lee pressed softly. Richard blushed harder, but responded slowly.

                “What do you want to know?”

                “Who was it? Were you friends? Where was it? Are you gay or was it a one-time thing?” Lee couldn’t help but unload all his questions at once. He had a feeling they probably wouldn’t get a chance to talk about this again. Not with the number of cast and crew mulling about absolutely everywhere. Plus, Richard was into his second glass of wine now and Lee really had never seen him so relaxed.

                “We were in orchestra together, he was 18 and I was 17. We went on a camping trip with some friends and he suggested we share a tent together, so of course I went with it. Things happened, he gave me a blow job and then he fucked me,” Richard said carefully, pausing at the end of each sentence, stabbing at the pieces of food left on his plate. “I’m bi, but I’ve only had relationships with women and I stopped fooling around with men about 2005, after North & South came out and I got more publicity.”

                “Because being straight you get less bias, more opportunities,” Lee responded, nodding slowly. He did understand that. “I really hope the experience wasn’t as painful as you make it sound though. It was consensual, right?”

                “Yeah, I wanted it almost as much as he did,” Richard said quietly, taking a deep gulp of wine before refilling his glass. He still wasn’t really looking Lee in the eye, which made Lee nervous since that was clearly a sign the other man was uncomfortable with the subject.

                “And with other guys? No one took advantage?” Lee continued, carefully trying to pry the problem out.

                “No, Lee I’m not traumatized or anything,” Richard muttered, starting to get agitated.

                “Ok, ok,” Lee backed off. “I just want to make sure. My friend Matt had some pretty terrible experiences. One of them in particular was really rough, he came out of it bloody and plastered. I was really close to taking him to the hospital, but he begged me not to. I just know how bad it can be for some people. Growing up in a small town in Texas, I’ve had a few unpleasant nights myself.”

                “I’m so sorry to hear that,” Richard murmured softly, relaxing again and finally looking up at Lee. “I just don’t really talk about this.”

                “That’s ok. Being gay or bi still makes a lot of people uncomfortable,” Lee said, reaching across the table to squeeze Richard’s hand. Richard pulled away though and shook his head slightly.

                “It’s not entirely that,” he said. “The guys I’ve been with were purely for sex, we didn’t just sit around and talk afterwards.” Richard sighed again and seemed to be looking for words, so Lee didn’t interrupt. “My brother is the only one who knows about any of this. I’m not out to my parents or my friends or any ex-girlfriends or my agent, who would probably have a coronary.”

                “Oh,” Lee said, finally starting to get it. “You really just don’t talk about it.”

                “Nope,” Richard took another long drink of wine. “I’m just your average moody, repressed Englishman.”

                “Well,” Lee looked over at Richard through his eyelashes, a small half smile on his face. “Thanks for telling me.”

                “How,” Richard started after another minute of silence, then he had to clear his voice to keep the words from sounding so rough. “How was it for you? How did you know?”

                “It was in high school and at first I thought I was just overexpressing sexual energy or something. I would drool over all the cheerleaders, like every other guy at school and then I would drool over all the football team whenever Matt would point out specific members to me. It took a long time for me to come to terms with my sexuality in high school, mostly because Matt knew he was gay long before I figured out I was bi and I saw how differently people would treat him. I was scared that something was wrong with me or that Matt was rubbing off on me the wrong way, but after a few fights and sleepless nights, I came out to my sister and she was really great about it. The rest of my family actually was too, with me being so involved with the romanticism of theater, they weren’t entirely shocked. I lost my virginity to a girl, but over the years, I’ve had a pretty equal spread between relationships with men and women,” Lee finished with a sip of his wine and ate the last bite of chicken off his plate, then looked to Richard.

                “I was a cellist, abnormally tall, with a big nose, and just generally awkward. I got bullied a fair amount as a kid without expressing any sexuality. I suppose I just never came to terms with it as an identity. I’ve pushed all my experiences with men into a small box in the back of my mind. And when I stopped, I just thought I could close the box and it would never have to be reopened. That it was a phase and I could make myself get over it,” Richard again, spoke haltingly, but now was more determined to tell his story.

                “But that’s not how it works?” Lee posed as a question to get Richard to keep talking.

                “No,” Richard sighed. “I keep noticing attractive men. And even when I was in a relationship, I would just feel like something was missing or misunderstood. Or it would feel like a craving almost, that I would want a man instead of a woman. I still try to keep that as a separate part of me. I don’t want being bisexual to define me as a person. 40 years and I still don’t even have a clue what does define me as a person.”

                “We’re people. We’re not meant to be defined,” Lee offered, holding his breath as he reached across the table to grasp Richard’s hand once again. This time Richard allowed his hand to be squeezed, then briefly tightened his own grasp back. Their gazes met and Richard smiled for the first time since this conversation had started. It was a very faint smile, only a slight quirking of his lips, but it reached his eyes; they practically sparkled in the soft glow of the light in Lee’s trailer. Lee smiled back before slowly pulling his hand away.

                “Well, we’ve finished a whole bottle of wine, so you really shouldn’t drive home,” Lee said, breaking the heavy atmosphere they’d created. “You’re welcome to stay on my couch.”

                “Sure,” Richard said, sounding slightly hoarse. “You don’t mind? I could just walk back over to my own trailer.”

                “Nonsense!” Lee tutted, then picked out the Mitchell and Webb Situation from his stack of DVDs. As soon as Richard saw the title of the DVD, he grinned.

                “I love that show,” he said. “Didn’t realize you Americans got it.”

                “The wonders of youtube, my friend,” Lee teased. “I saw a couple short sketches and ordered a couple seasons off Amazon. Totally worth it.”

                They both settled back into the couch, glasses of water in their hands instead of more wine, and relaxed. Their shoulders were barely touching, but that was more than enough. Lee pulled a fuzzy blanket over himself and let his head fall back onto the couch, he knew he wouldn’t be awake for long, he could feel the exhaustion from the day and the conversation they’d just had. It was a good feeling though, a contented feeling and, sure enough, before the end of the first episode, Lee was asleep, head slowly rolling to land on Richard’s shoulder. Richard didn’t bother to move; he carefully adjusted his laughter so the chuckles wouldn’t wake his sleeping friend.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and the encouragement! Trying to figure out how to tie some pieces of the story together, but I've already got ideas for future chapters. :D


	5. Chocolate Chardonnay

The minute Lee pushed open the door to the cafeteria, he knew something was wrong. Generally, there was a group of dwarves, Martin, and Andy Serkis sitting at a table, then the elves and Luke, then more dwarves (Aidan and Dean) with some stunties, and finally, the rest of the crew seated relatively close to the department they worked with, often pouring over papers or electronic equipment as they ate. This day was different. Martin, Graham, and Mark were all hovering over Adam while Aidan and Dean looked like they were scheming something with Jed at the same table. Perhaps most notably about that dwarf table though, was the fact that Stephen Hunter was pushing some food around his plate and looking more nervous than ravenous. Interesting.  


Lee side-stepped his usual table as he made his way over to the dwarves, Sir Ian, who had been behind him in the food line, followed.  


“Oh good,” Martin said looking relieved by something as he glanced up at Lee. “You’re here.”  


“Why does that have anything to do with, well, anything?” Lee raised an eyebrow as he placed his plate down at the table. “What’s wrong?”  


“We have deemed you most likely to solve our little problem,” Sir Ian rumbled from behind him. “And least likely to make the situation worse before it gets better.”  


“…” Lee just looked in confusion at the much older actor, then turned to the rest of the table to only have his suspicions heightened as he realized they were all nodding in agreement. “What exactly is this about?”  


“Richard is in a mood,” Martin said without preamble.  


“Ah,” Lee replied. “And why am I the most able to make him stop being in a mood?”  


“You and he seem to have a good rapport, even during stressful shoots,” Sir Ian offered.  


“You’re the only one who can interfere with his bubble without fear of getting punched in the face,” Graham stated, shifting protectively towards Adam. Now that Lee looked at him, he noticed a redness around the young actor’s cheekbone.  


“He punched you in the face?!” Lee practically exclaimed.  


“Shhh!” Martin and Graham hissed simultaneously.  


“Not intentionally,” Adam said softly. “I just went to go talk to him and touched his shoulder when he wasn’t looking and he just kind of, reacted.”  


As Adam went quiet, the rest of the dwarves started their hushed whispers again.  


“He really needs to learn how to control that temper.”  


“It’s not his temper, Stephen, he needs to learn to relax.”  


“It’s fine when he’s just grumpy, we all have our days, it’s just when he lets the Thorin thing get too much inside his head—“  


“Like today.”  


“Right, we need to do something about it.”  


“But what can we do without offending him?”  


“We just need to sit him down and make him snap out of it.”  


“No, what we need is someone to get inside his head.”  


“What we need is for him to stop punching people.”  


“Punch him in the face.”  


“He’s only done it the one time, Graham.”  


“So, we’re going to wait for this to happen again?”  


“You’re overreacting, the redness is already gone.”  


“Yeah, and I bruise easily, so this was really nothing. It didn’t even hurt really. And I surprised him. It was my fault.”  


“It was no one’s fault, Adam, people unintentionally hurt others all the time. Richard’s just got a bit of muscle behind his reactions.”  


“Guys, this is exactly why we need Lee,” Martin leaned across the table and effectively shut them all up.  


“And again,” Lee raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, still not quite sure what was being asked of him. “What exactly, can I do about Richard being in a bad mood? This is not uncommon.”  


“You don’t get it,” Aidan sighed. “He’s so much worse today.”  


“There’s an actual black cloud of dragon sickness doom hanging over him,” Dean added. The rest of the table nodded in agreement and looked at Lee with pleading eyes.  


“Well,” Lee started, thinking back to what he had gotten to know about Richard in the past several months. A lot of it he would never share with these mutual friends, but some of it he could. “Wine helps almost any situation with him.”  


“We’ve tried that,” Mark said. “Jimmy gave him a glass at lunch, and he’s actually gotten worse since then.”  


Lee furrowed his brow, thinking. He couldn’t say he was entirely surprised with a downward spiral in Richard’s attitude, not since the depression-heavy Thorin was now looming in every scene. Lee recalled their conversation at the beach so many weeks ago, and just how deeply Richard was trying to dig into himself to get Thorin’s moods just right. Of course he, as a person, was going to be in terrible moods while trying to be so faithful to his character.  
“If anyone would know what could help, it would be his brother,” Lee realized suddenly. The table perked up instantly.  


“Right, so we need to get Richard’s phone,” Martin said, clapping his hands together.  


“I’ll do it,” Jed offered quickly.  


“He’s probably got a passcode on it,” Mark warned.  


“There’s a way to bypass the code to get to recent calls,” Aidan countered.  


“Would he have called his brother recently?” asked Stephen.  


“This is a terrible idea,” Lee muttered, dropping his head into his hands. None of the dwarves listened to him as they continued arguing and plotting. Sir Ian made no comment, but merely gave Lee a reassuring pat on the back. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Less than an hour later found Lee in his changing room, rolling Richard’s phone over in his hand. The dwarves had gone on to shoot and, once Dean and Aidan had shown him how to bypass the phone’s passcode, they’d left him on his own. Lee scowled down at the phone. He had no right to do this, no right to intrude on Richard’s personal life. He could bring a nice, high end bottle of wine to the other man’s trailer that night and hopefully things would be better in the morning. Maybe bring both ice cream and wine. And also leave him with the Mitchell and Webb DVDs. Yup, that’s what Lee would do, not call Richard’s brother, intruding on his well-protected privacy, but solve the problem another way. He would tell the dwarves that the only recent calls were from his agent or something. Just as Lee made to put the phone away, it started buzzing.  


The name, Chris, popped up on the screen. Lee racked his brain, he was about 80% sure that Richard’s brother’s name was Chris. But, Chris was such a popular name…  


“Are you gonna get that?” Tami asked, coming into the room and digging through the props, make-up, and prosthetics on the desk to find something. “Unless you’re in a fight, it’s rude to stare at a phone without answering it.”  


Lee grimaced, if Tami spread word of Lee not answering a phone, the dwarves would be on him in a heartbeat.  


“Hello?” He said, cautiously, swiping the little phone sign to the right.  


“Richie? what’s up with your voice? Are you sick?” The other voice came crackling through the other end. Clearly another neat baritone, and combined with referring to Richard as Richie…  


“This isn’t Richard,” Lee said slowly, evenly, as Tami found what she was looking for and left the room. “I’m one of his co-workers. You’re his brother, correct?”  


“Umm… Yeah. Why do you have his phone? He’s going to kill you if he finds out.”  


“I know, one of our friends stole it because we need to talk to you,” Lee sighed, really wishing he could be anywhere else, doing anything else at this particular moment.  


“Ah, why?”  


“He’s been in a pretty foul temper lately and he’s starting to worry us,” Lee said.  


“Oh. What stage is he in?” the voice on the other end went from sounding a mixture of amused and affronted to being resigned.  


“Pardon?” Lee said, not quite sure he’d heard right. “Why does it matter? Are you in New Zealand?!?”  


“No! I meant how bad is his mood? Stage 1 would be general grumpiness including fake smiles and a lack of witticism. Stage 2 is depression, being very withdrawn and refusing to associate with others. Stage 3 is actual anger, he may use his quiet, seething voice and basically just not allow himself to be touched or reasoned with.”  


“Uh, I have no idea,” Lee said, a bit confused by the precision. “He accidentally hit one of our youngest actors in the face when he touched his shoulder.”  


“Damn,” the voice on the other end of the phone muttered. “That’s definitely Stage 3.”  


“So, I guess Rich’s moods are not exactly new territory?” Lee pushed.  


“Nope, he’s been like this since we were kids. Gets worse depending on what part he’s acting. We knew Thorin would take its toll on him. That’s why I’ve been trying to call him at least once or twice a month.”  


“Wow, well, I’m glad to know someone’s looking out for him,” Lee said.  


“Yeah, well, he doesn’t have many others who he lets get so close to him.”  


“I’ve noticed that,” Lee replied earnestly. If he’d learned anything about Richard it was the thick cocoon of privacy he’d wound so tightly around himself. “So, how do we handle this?”  


“There’s this new brand of ice cream in the UK. It’s a wine-infused ice cream called Chocolate Chardonnay. Get him a pint of that and have whoever is his closest acquaintance sit with him while he eats it without letting him know that he’s being watched. The chips will fall where they may after that. He may talk, he may just appreciate the company, or he may regress to Stage 2. But be sure to get only a pint, he can eat a gallon but that would make him more miserable because he’d be upset with himself for showing such weakness or some shite like that.”  


“Chocolate Chardonnay?” Lee checked, nodding over the phone as he jotted it down with lipstick on a swatch of paper towel.  


“Yup.”  


“Thank you so much, we’ll give that a try.”  


“Sorry, what was your name again?”  


“Lee.”  


“Well, Lee, I wish you luck. Write my number down, call if the ice cream doesn’t help or if he starts getting any worse. In either case, don’t steal his phone again.”  


“Sure, no problem, thanks for your help.”  


“And Lee?”  


“Yeah?”  


“Thanks for caring,” then the other line beeped as Chris hung up. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The phone was returned to Richard in much the same way it was taken from him, or so Lee convinced himself once it had left his possession. Thankfully, his conversation with Chris hadn’t been very long, so he’d gotten the phone back to Jed during the same set of rolling retakes. Almost as soon as it was gone, Lee had done his last couple takes on a scene with Evie and then dragged her off to come grocery shopping with him to find a certain type of ice cream. So by the time Lee finally got around to finding Richard, ice cream in hand, it was nearly 10pm and the dwarves were just wrapping up with filming for the day.  


As the group of sweaty dwarves were being attended to by their respective make-up and prosthetic teams, Lee hid himself behind the wall on the way to the showers. If Richard was still as upset as he had been when he was worrying Martin and the rest of the cast, there was no way he would be joining the rush of them to gossip as they showered, changed, and went home. Lee waited until the bustle of people had gone past him, nodding to the ones who acknowledged him, and then cautiously entered the studio.  


Richard was leaning against one of the trees in their Mirkwood forest, his Thorin costume peeled down to the blue cooling vest, legs of the fat suit, Thorin’s pants held up by suspenders, the heavy fur-lined boots, the wig pulled back into a thick ponytail, and the prosthetics. His brow was furrowed, those bright blue eyes were lidded, and the very manner in which he was drinking from his water bottle exuded exhaustion and broodiness.  


“Hey, Rich,” Lee greeted quietly as he approached the other man.  


“Lee,” Richard rumbled, nodding his head the barest increment to acknowledge Lee’s presence.  


“How are you?” Lee started, feeling awkward now that he was actually here, face to face with the man he was somehow supposed to magically raise out of basically a self-induced depression. He stopped walking towards Richard and instead sat down on one of the rock formations in the forest and placed the bag of ice cream at his feet.  


Richard regarded him coolly for a few moments, blue eyes assessing, before slowly he pushed himself away from the tree and started towards Lee. “I’ve been better.”  


“I, ah, hear you’ve been having a rough day,” Lee ventured as Richard got closer.  


“Probably more giving everyone else around me a rough day,” Richard responded as he sat rather heavily next to Lee. “What’s in the bag?”  


Wordlessly, Lee held the bag out to him and watched as the glint of suspicion in Richard’s eyes was replaced with a glimmer of excitement.  


“Really? For me?”  


“A little bird may have told me it would lighten your spirits,” Lee said, smiling softly as he leaned back on the rocks, folding his hands behind his head. Lee closed his eyes to give Richard a little space and listened to the crackling of plastic being taken off.  


“Adam’s alright?” Richard asked cautiously after a few silent moments of cherishing his ice cream. “I didn’t mean to react so badly; I didn’t notice he was there.”  


“Yeah,” Lee replied, opening his eyes and turning his head towards Richard. His heart couldn’t help skipping a beat as he looked up at the older man. Chris was right, the ice cream was working like a charm, the tension was already receding from Richard’s stance, and the expression in those blue eyes was soft as they met Lee’s. “Graham and Mark seemed more upset than Adam, you know how they get.”  


“Yeah,” Richard’s response sounded more like a sigh than an actual word. “I’ll apologize to them all tomorrow.”  


Richard went back to his ice cream and Lee shifted his gaze up to the ceiling. The bustling of the crew around the studio had died down to being practically nonexistent around them and it really made the atmosphere feel therapeutic, in a good way. Lee was content to let the silence grow between them as Richard ate. He knew by now that Richard spoke when he wanted to, silence was more valuable than meaningless conversation.  


“Tomorrow’s your last day of filming?” Richard asked, he was more than halfway through his pint at that point.  


“Mmm,” Lee made a noise of assent, sensing that Richard wanted to go on.  


“When do you leave?”  


Lee sat up straight again at the tentative tone in Richard’s voice. It was a tone he’d never heard from his friend before, but it was reminiscent of the cautious way they’d discussed their sexualities so many weeks ago. “My flight is Thursday morning. I figured Pete probably wouldn’t finish with me until late tomorrow night.”  


“Mm,” Richard turned his attention back to scraping out his ice cream. “Would you have come to say good-bye?”  


“Of course!” Lee reached over and gently squeezed the top of Richard’s thigh, momentarily forgetting it was still covered with padding. The gesture wasn’t lost on Richard though; he gave a small smile around his spoon. “That isn’t what this whole worsening mood is about, right?”  


“No, of course not,” Richard sighed and licked the last of the ice cream off his spoon. He set the empty container back in the bag on the ground. “I’m just going to miss it… Having someone to talk to.”  


Lee felt the heat rush to his cheeks; all at once he wanted to smother Richard in big sloppy kisses and shake the hesitancy out of him at the same time. Throughout their growing friendship Lee had known that he was fighting a strong attraction for Richard, and this had only gotten stronger the more he got to know the man. Right now, though, he wanted nothing more than to leave with a clean slate between them; a good, strong, solid friendship that had the potential to be anything. He didn’t want the frustrations of starting a long distance relationship to complicate the connection that they did have. And, he also still didn’t have any indications that Richard even liked him as more than a friend. So, Lee forced his feelings down with a loud gulp and clapped Richard gently on the shoulder.  


“I’ll miss you too,” he said, giving Richard a big, open smile. “You have my number and my email, we can still talk whenever we want to.”  


“I know,” Richard murmured, leaning ever so slightly into Lee’s touch for a moment. Then he stood and stretched. “I should probably shower and get to sleep.”  


“Yeah,” Lee conceded, standing as well. There was still a tension hanging in the air around them though, as if something had been left unsaid. In a matter of seconds, Lee figured out what it was. He wrapped his arms tightly around Richard’s shoulders and Richard’s arms fell into place around his waist.  


“Good-bye, Rich,” Lee whispered hoarsely into the thick wig that was now perfectly in his face. His original, sloppy draping of arms turned into a real hug, pulling their bodies flush up against each other.  


“Good-bye, Lee,” Richard rumbled softly back, his breath tingling Lee’s ear. The arms around Lee’s waist tightened.  


As the hug continued, time just seemed to stand still for both men. Both were unwilling to let go, for this to be the end so soon. The beeping of Richard’s watch, warning them that the time was now 11pm finally caused them to pull away. Their eyes met and it took every ounce of willpower that Lee had not to lean those few inches to kiss Richard, taste the chocolate still lingering in his mouth. But, he did resist, he did pull away, and he did smile as he did this, because he knew that this was not yet the final end.  


“At the very least, I will see you next May, my friend,” Lee said, bending to pick up the bag no longer full of ice cream.  


“Of course,” Richard agreed. “Enjoy your last day of filming and have a safe flight, if I don’t get a chance to see you before you leave.”  


“Thanks. And you had better enjoy the hell out of the rest of your time filming, these guys are all looking out for you.”  


“Yeah, I know,” Richard rolled his eyes in an amused manner. “Goodnight, Lee.”  


“Goodnight,” Lee responded as Richard made his way towards the showers. Lee watched him leave, hoping against hope that they would come together again in May 2013 and it would feel as if not a single day had passed since their parting.


	6. Filming Intermission

To: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

From: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

Subject: New Role?

                Hey Rich,

Couldn’t help but notice your name as cast in an upcoming tornado movie?! Is that what you do on your time off!? I know you like being busy, but everyone needs a bit of break sometimes. ;)

                Lee

                                PS: Are you filming in the States?

 

To: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

From: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

Subject: Re: New Role?

                Hey Lee,

I am in a tornado movie. Thank my agent for that one, he sent in an audition piece to them and I had to agree over the phone less than a week after the last day of principal for the Hobbit. It’s alright though, they’re a good group of people and it’s not a very dialogue heavy film. I’m mainly just using my newly developed dwarf muscles :P

And, yes, we are filming in the States, all in Michigan. We should finish principal photography in September, but I think I might stick it out for another couple months. I’ve heard the slopes in Colorado are some of the best around.

                                What are you up to?

                Rich

 

To: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

From: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

Subject: Re: New Role?

Hmmmm, I’m not really too familiar with Michigan, but Colorado is definitely worth staying for. Though, I’d stay for the awesome hiking trails and Denver is a gorgeous city.

I’m taking a bit of time off, actually. Will be auditioning for a couple small parts, but mostly just spending some quality time with Carl and my sister’s kids.

Good luck with your filming! You should let me know when your down time comes around and maybe we could meet up!

                Lee

 

To: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

From: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

Subject: Thanksgiving

                Hey Rich!

Hopefully I’m reaching you post-filming, but I was curious if you’re going to be in the States through Thanksgiving?

                Lee

 

To: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

From: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

Subject: Re: Thanksgiving

                Lee!

I’m so sorry I forgot to email when I finished filming! We’ve been done since September 23rd. I just got out to Denver last week, the mountains are gorgeous! Nothing like New Zealand, but one can only ask for so much… A couple resorts will start making snow soon if the weather holds cold enough. I should be here for a couple months though. When is Thanksgiving?

                Rich

 

To: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

From: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

Subject: Re: Thanksgiving

                Hey Rich,

It’s ok, you’ve been busy. J You owe me stories of how it went, though! Thanksgiving is the third Thursday in November, so if you’re staying a few months, you’ll definitely make it.

That was kind of my point in asking. Do you want to come meet Carl? And my nieces and nephews? And eat more food than physically possible?

                Please say yes!

                Lee

 

To: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

From: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)  

Subject: Re: Thanksgiving

                Hey Lee,

Are you sure? I don’t want to impose on a family gathering. Thanksgiving is such an odd American tradition anyway, I never understood the Black Friday bit either, keep seeing commercials for it everywhere… And turkeys…. I am a bit disappointed I missed the Harvest Festival with my family though, I skyped in for a bit then attempted to cook my own version… Needless to say, you know my cooking skills, it didn’t end well…

                Rich

 

To: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

From: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

Subject: Re: Thanksgiving

Yes, of course I’m sure! Please come!! And I really hope you didn’t burn your trailer’s kitchen down… We don’t really do the Black Friday bit, my sister did one year, but that was when friends dragged her out and made her buy these hideous boots that were on sale…. If you fly Denver to Austin on Tuesday, then we’ll stay at my sister’s house Tuesday night and Wednesday night, then we go to my parent’s place Thursday morning and get back to Sally’s a bit before midnight or so. You could either leave right away on Friday or spend the whole weekend, it’s cool either way.

Sally and Justin renovated their basement into a guest suite, so we’d just have to share a bathroom. Otherwise there’s a king-size bed and a pull-out couch (we could put on a sword-fighting show for the kids to decide who sleeps where ;P).

Oh, and Sally is already looking forward to meeting you and wants to know what your favorite kind of pizza is. She and Will are making some from scratch for Tuesday night. So you’d better come or there will be blood.

Lee

 

To: [thepaceman1111@gmail.com](mailto:thepaceman1111@gmail.com)

From: [rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:rcarmitage5@yahoo.co.uk)

Subject: Re: Thanksgiving

                Really, Lee? You have now left me with no choice.

                                I will whip you in a sword fight. The real bed is mine.

                Rich

  1. P.S. Does your family drink wine? I need to bring something that is not food….




	7. Texas for Thanksgiving

                Lee was nervous, probably more nervous than he really had any reason to be. It wasn’t like Richard was even his boyfriend or that anything would happen beyond eating and talking and quite possibly a good bit of drinking. But still, as Lee pulled up to the arrivals gate in Sally’s old Ranger, he couldn’t quite still the butterflies in his stomach.

                His eyes picked Richard out of the crowd almost as soon as he appeared coming out of the arrivals gate. He had on dark sunglasses, a thick sweater, a single bag thrown over his shoulder, and a small suitcase on wheels. He was, of course, taller than the majority of airport-goers, so all Lee had to do was raise his hand, pinky finger sticking up like they had agreed, out the window of the small truck. Lee followed Richard with his eyes as the older man swerved easily through the crowd of people.

                “Hey! Welcome to Texas!” Lee greeted, rubbing his sweaty hands on his jeans before getting out of the driver’s seat to greet Richard with a quick one-armed hug.

                “It’s good to see you, Lee,” Richard returned the hug and then turned to load the small suitcase in the tiny backseat of the truck.

                “What’s up with all the packing? You didn’t need to bring everything with you,” Lee teased as Richard made the passenger seat more comfortable for a man with long legs and they drove away from the airport.

                “I didn’t. Security doesn’t allow liquids in carry-ons, so I had to check a bag to bring the wine.”

                “I told you that you didn’t have to bring anything,” Lee sighed, shaking his head in mock exasperation. “Or you could have just bought some here.”

                “I wasn’t about to turn up somewhere I’ve never been before empty-handed!” Richard exclaimed. Lee just chuckled. “Besides, these are a couple really good bottles from my sister-in-law’s father’s private collection.”

                “That sounds not a bit sketchy,” Lee said, turning to face Richard with a skeptical eyebrow raised as they turned onto the highway.

                “It’s a long story,” Richard laughed. “Basically, Rosie gives them to me as presents for birthdays, Christmas, celebrations, because her father hates Chris so Chris hates wine, but there’s still something thrilling about sneaking bottles away from him.”

                “I’m a little concerned about your family.”

                “Well, I’m about to meet yours, so I’m hoping they’re a bit more sane,” Richard responded evenly.

                “Don’t get your hopes up too high,” said Lee, snickering as he turned his attention back to the road. “Here’s the quick overview: Sally is older than me by just over a year, so we’re pretty close. Justin is her husband and they’ve got three kids: Jenny, Kasey, and Mike. Will is our younger brother by almost 6 years, and he just married Ellen a few years ago, they have 2-year-old twins, Laura and Logan, and Elle’s expecting again in February, I believe.”

                “Wow,” Richard muttered. “There is absolutely no way I’m going to remember all that.”

                “Don’t worry about it,” Lee brushed off quickly. “The kids haven’t gotten out of school yet and Justin’s still at work, so it’ll just be us and Sally for a few hours.”

                “That’s not so bad,” Richard replied, relaxing a bit into his seat.

                “Until dinner, then chaos will break out and you’ll meet everybody all at once, but the children take up most of the attention, so hopefully it won’t be too bad,” Lee finished with a wink as he saw Richard tense again out of the corner of his eye. “Just relax and have a good time, my family loves having people over, it gives us an excuse to try to out-embarrass each other.”

                “And no one is going to think we’re, like, a couple or something?” Richard pondered hesitantly, gaze focused out the passenger window as buildings flew by. Lee chewed on the inside of his lip, wondering if he could reach over and touch Richard in some small reassuring way without it being misconstrued.

                “Nah,” he responded, deciding to forgo the urge to touch for now. “Though Sally will probably try to make you go out with me. She’s so intent on finding me a new Carter because she thinks I look better with men than women. You don’t have to listen to any of it though, just tell her right up front that you’re straight and she’ll leave it alone.”

                “Mm,” Richard murmured, not quite in either agreement or disagreement, more as an acknowledgment that the topic would likely be brought up. 

                “I could just tell her to leave it be first and say it’s none of her damn business,” Lee offered, aware that Richard wasn’t at all used to people talking intimately about sexuality.

                “No, it’s fine,” he responded slowly. “I don’t want it to become a big deal.”

                “It won’t,” Lee assured him, glancing over at Richard with a wide, comforting smile. Then he pulled off the main road onto a roughly paved driveway. “You ready?”

                “As I’ll ever be,” Richard uttered as Lee put the truck in park in front of a decent-sized peach-colored house.

                Within seconds of their arrival, a tall, dark-haired woman was already running out to meet them.

                “You must be Richard! Welcome to Texas, sweetie!” The woman greeted heartily, pulling Richard into a full hug and kissing him on both cheeks. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? How was the flight?”

                “You’re pestering, Sally, let him get a word out,” Lee muttered in a teasingly angry tone as he grabbed Richard’s things from the backseat of the truck.

                “Oh, what do you know about hospitality, Lee?” Sally argued right back, but she was grinning, so it was all clearly in good fun. “I’m Sally, dear, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

                “Thank you so much for inviting me, Lee’s told me a lot about you,” Richard said, finally catching his breath from Sally’s questioning.

                “The pleasure is all ours! We’re always happy to have friends join us for food and company,” Sally said, an arm still wrapped up, stretching around Richard’s shoulder as she led him into the house. The sight of it made Lee chuckle, since despite Sally’s height, Richard still had a good few inches on her and several pounds of muscle, yet he was being led like a docile little puppy dog. Speaking of which…

                “Carl!” Lee face broke out into a huge, open grin as his mutt lumbered out of the front door and into Lee’s waiting arms.

                “This is the infamous Carl?” Richard asked, as Sally meandered into the kitchen to get glasses of water.

                “Yep!” Lee exclaimed as his face was being covered with slobbery kisses. “Carl, meet Richard. Richard, this is Carl.”

                “Nice to meet you, Carl,” Richard said, smirking as he knelt down to Carl and Lee’s level. Carl turned towards the new man, sniffed him in several places, then presented him with a nice slobbery tongue in his face. “Mmm, thanks.”

                Lee laughed at Richard’s sarcasm, but also out of joy that so far, everything was going so well.

                “Do you want to bring your bags downstairs?” Sally asked, coming back into the room to see both men sitting on the ground with the huge dog splitting his attention between them.

                “Sure,” Richard said, getting up and brushing some of the dog hair off his pants.

                “Lee?” Sally said pointedly.         

                “Yeah, yeah,” Lee muttered playfully put out as he also stood up and took hold once more of Richard’s small suitcase of wine.

 

                The downstairs of Sally’s house had indeed been renovated into a suite, closer to an in-law apartment than anything. It had its own key and you could enter either through the house or through a private entrance on the backside of the house. There was a small living area, complete with the pull-out couch, TV, and a couple different (older) gaming systems. The bedroom was further back, with an enormous king size bed and a window that looked out over the vast backyard towards farmland. Finally, the bathroom was attached to the bedroom and it had a shower stall as well as a good-sized bathtub.

                “This is amazing,” Richard murmured. “And that bed is bigger than any king size I’ve ever seen.”

                “It’s actually a custom size bed, the main visitors to this room when we did the renovations were Lee and Carter. Both well over 6 feet tall and we wanted them to be comfortable here,” Sally mentioned. Richard glanced cautiously at Lee as she mentioned Carter, but Lee worked very carefully to show no outward reaction. “So, plenty of space now for the pair of you!”

                “Sal, Richard hasn’t heard the story of how you and Justin met yet,” Lee offered quickly as Richard dropped his shoulder bag onto the bed.

                “Oh! Well, it was so many years ago now and he was just the sweetest boy in town,” Sally began excitedly. Lee and Richard met glances over the top of her head and Lee could see the gratefulness in Richard’s eyes for shifting the attention away from himself and the obvious hinting.

 

                Richard’s stay with the Pace family turned out to be surprisingly relaxed and enjoyable. He’d been agonizing over it for weeks and never would he have guessed on how warm, welcoming, and just plain comfortable the experience would be for such an awkward sort of person as himself. When the kids had a couple days off of school, he and Lee took them out on the farm trucks (that looked reminiscent of golf carts) or put on overdramatic performances of their favorite books in the living room. Carl was constantly around Lee, and had made himself comfortable on Richard more than once as well. Even the sleeping arrangements worked out better than anticipated; Lee was a clean, easygoing roommate and the two ended up deciding to just swap beds each night (Richard had the pullout the first night and the real bed Wednesday night, they’d flipped a coin for Tuesday night).

                Throughout the days there was also a myriad of friends that came and went. Lee’s friend, Matt, even stopped by at one point on Wednesday afternoon with his husband and their 3 kids to exchange gifts and pleasantries with Lee. It was like a whole different world that Richard wasn’t at all accustomed to. Thanksgiving itself had even been wonderful; it was filled with amazing food, delicious wine, and teasing conversation. Everyone was accepting and happy, with big smiles and lots of laughs; he felt like he had been immersed in some sort of fictional fairy world filled with rainbows and joy. It was odd, but not entirely unwelcome.

                It was a combination of all of these factors that led to what happened as Richard and Lee, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, stumbled down the stairs to the basement.

                “Rich,” Lee mumbled, flopping down on the bed where Richard had already seen fit to lie on it, face in the pillows.

                “Hmph,” he grunted in response.

                “You gotta go pull out the couch,” Lee said, shoving the older man’s shoulder.

                “Nah,” Richard replied, turning his head to one side to face Lee. “Too drunk. You do it.”

                “I had the couch last night,” Lee was borderline whining now, he was really comfortable on the bed and also pleasantly drunk.

                “Mmrgrh,” Richard mumbled unintelligibly as he smushed his face back into the pillows. Lee looked at Richard, thought about getting up to move to the couch, then rolled his head into a comfortable space and closed his eyes.

                It was practically midnight when they got back from Lee’s parents’ house, so Lee really wasn’t fighting the feeling of drifting off. That is until Richard shifted and rolled so that his entire back (shoulders to calves, including that amazing ass) lined up along the side of Lee’s body. Then there was a good mix of wine and hormones that caused a particular part of Lee’s anatomy to jolt him awake.

                “Rich?” he questioned, a good deal less fuzzy than he’d inquired earlier.

                Rather than having the intended effect of Richard rolling away, realizing how close he’d gotten, basically the opposite happened. Richard fell back onto his stomach as he turned his head to face Lee, now barely inches away from each other.

                “Lee?” Richard rumbled, a thick, heavy sound coming from deep in his chest, Lee could practically feel it with how close they were to each other. Their eyes met, unblinking, in the dark of the room.

                “Fuck I want to kiss you,” Lee breathed, words failing to pass through that brain to mouth filter again. If he wasn’t a bit drunk, Lee would have definitely raced to take back those words, but there they stood and all Lee could do was watch Richard’s eyes travel across his face to land on his lips.

                And then Lee didn’t have time to think about regretting what he said because Richard’s lips were on his.

                It was less a perfect kiss than it was a blind meeting of mouths, tongues, and even teeth hitting each other at one point. Lee very briefly made a note of just how big Richard’s nose was because it kept bumping into his cheek and may have ended up in his mouth once he’d closed his eyes.

                Lips touching were very quickly joined by hands. Lee’s hands seemed to move of their own accord to run through Richard’s thick dark hair, pulling his mouth even closer to be devoured. They both tasted of wine and pumpkin chocolate chip cake, but this was far better than desert.

                Lee was jerked back into reality by the feel of warm, calloused hands fingering his waistline, just at the height where his shirt was riding up, and he pulled back. They were both panting with swollen lips and fever-bright eyes.

                “Rich,” Lee managed to gasp out, only half aware that it hadn’t come out quite like the question he’d meant it as.

                “Top or bottom?” Richard growled slightly, shifting his hips so Lee could feel an erection now pressing against his thigh.

                “This is a horrible idea,” Lee muttered now that he’d gained his breath.

                “You started it,” Richard responded, taking a deep breath and moving himself away again, making to stand up and leave the bed.  

                “Never said we should stop,” Lee caught him quickly by the waist, pulling him back to lie where he had been seconds ago. “Are you sure you want to do this? With me?”

                In another second, Lee’s wrists were caught in Richard’s hands and the heavier man was pinning him down to the bed and wet lips had returned to his own.

                “Top. Or. Bottom,” Richard repeated slowly, punctuating each word with a slow circling of his hips and a tongue in Lee’s mouth.

                As turned on as Lee was at that moment, he couldn’t just submit to Richard’s drunken horniness that easily. He slipped one of his legs out from under Richard and used it to throw the balance and flip them so he was now on top. Richard gave a wild grin, telling Lee that had clearly been the right move. Lee took a brief moment to consider his options and he bent his head down to suck that sensitive spot in the crook of Richard’s neck. Richard’s moan was almost inaudible, but the barely contained thrust of his hips told Lee exactly how much he wanted to know.

                “Bottom,” he murmured, using a deep, husky whisper that he often forgot he was capable of. He pulled at Richard’s earlobe with his teeth before sitting up to pull his shirt off.

                Despite being famous, Lee didn’t often feel extremely sexy. He was too thin, had too many freckles, too much hair or too little hair depending on the role. But the way Richard’s pupils blew wide open, darkening those bright blue eyes practically beyond recognition, he felt like the hottest catch the man had ever had.

                As soon as Lee let go of Richard’s wrists, the man’s hands were back on his body, fingering the waistband of his dark jeans, gripping, and trying to shift his hips closer to his clothed erection. Shirt off, Lee leaned back down to steal another kiss from Richard and wrapped his arms around the other man’s torso to pull him to sit up as well. Then Richard’s sweater and undershirt joined Lee’s on the floor.

                They sat there, just for a moment, bathed in the warm glow of the single bedside lamp they’d flipped on as they came in. Both shirtless, both breathing raggedly, both insanely turned on.

                Lee fought a brief internal battle to ask Richard again if he was sure, but a slight shift of someone’s hips had him forgetting what he was trying to decide and he leaned over to the bedside table, hoping desperately that Sally hadn’t gone through the drawers. He let out a relieved sigh when his fingers touched the bottle of lube and a small packet of condoms, accompanied by another sigh and Richard found the sweet spot on his own neck.

                As nice as their position was, Lee straddling Richard’s hips was not any way to easily work off pants or underwear, so once finding their necessities, Lee unwound himself from his seat on Richard.

                “Stand up,” he murmured softly, tugging at Richard’s arm as he stood. Then he started unbuttoning his now uncomfortably tight jeans “Take off your pants.”   

                “Bossy,” Richard protested grinning wolfishly and grabbed Lee’s hands to stop what they were doing. Then he dropped to his knees in a graceful swoop and there was beard tickling at Lee’s V-line. Lee’s hands found a better occupation in Richard’s hair as the other man finished the job of taking off the jeans and mouthing his hard cock through cotton boxers. Lee moaned softly, feeling himself tense up in anticipation of what they were going to do. He fought the urge to rock his hips harder into Richard’s mouth as the final barrier came down.

                Richard’s lips and tongue were wet and eager on his cock, the sucking was soft and gentle in stark contrast to what Lee wanted him to be doing. One hand found its way to fondle Lee’s balls while the other squeezed ass and pulled him closer to reach further down Richard’s throat. Lee gave a sharp gasp as the wet heat of Richard’s mouth suddenly constricted and the hands disappeared for just a short moment. Then a tongue gave a long, rough, hard stroke up the underside of his shaft and lubed fingers pressed against his entrance.

                Lee’s mouth dropped open in a sigh even as his hands tightened in Richard’s hair. The blowjob returned to mild sucking and some very nice tongue-work as a second finger joined the first inside Lee. Richard’s tongue rubbed slow circles around the head of his penis as his two fingers scissored deeper into his ass, opening, loosening that ring of muscle. Lee unwillingly felt himself tensing again as Richard’s other hand happened upon a particularly ticklish spot on his hip.

                “Relax,” Richard murmured around his cock, moving his hand again. Lee bit back a whimper at the sensation of the vibrations around him. As soon as Lee managed to let out some tension with his next breath, a third well-lubed finger joined the other two.

                “Oooh, _fuck_ ,” Lee whispered hoarsely as Richard managed to crook all three fingers in just a way to brush the tip of his prostate.

                “Mmm,” Richard hummed over Lee’s cock, bringing Lee right to the fucking edge of an orgasm. Lee did whine this time as Richard pulled his mouth off and fingers out at the same time. Richard stood and when they kissed this time, Richard shedding his own pants, Lee could taste the salt of his own precum in Richard’s mouth.

                Richard gently pushed Lee back onto the bed and followed on his knees while Lee spread his legs apart for Richard to get between. Lee let his whole body relax into the bed, his arms thrown wide, legs spread, cock standing proudly and leaking freely.

                “Fuck, Lee,” Richard practically groaned as he looked down at Lee’s body. Then he dipped his head low to kiss the insides of Lee’s thighs, murmuring softly. “Gorgeous.”

                As Richard made his way back to Lee’s face, Lee was more than ready. Fuck, the most amazingly attractive man in the universe had just given him an amazing blowjob and was now looking at him like he was better than chocolate, of course he was fucking ready. He lifted his legs to cross them on Richard’s back and Richard’s hands moved so that one could guide him inside and the other supported Lee’s back.

                Lee’s cock flagged just slightly at the initial penetration, but Richard’s thick groan and teeth biting into Lee’s shoulder quickly perked it back up. He let the weight of Richard settle inside him, then he used his legs to maneuver himself just slightly to the left and oh _fuck fuck fuck_ , he was there. Both of Richard’s arms were wrapped around his lower back now, the older man was quivering as he waited for the signal from Lee to start thrusting. Lee was attempting to choke back his orgasm, he knew he wouldn’t last long.

                Sure enough, as soon as Lee squeezed his legs to nudge Richard into moving, the first thrust had him gasping for air, stars on the edge of his vision. He reached down to choke the head of his cock, to keep him from coming too soon for Richard. As Richard’s thrusts came harder and faster though, his orgasm was very quickly approaching.

                “Hold on,” Richard murmured, right in Lee’s ear as he thrust deep inside him. “Hold on, hold on.”   

                “I… I’m… g—gah,” Lee tried to warn him, but the feeling of Richard shaking above him, and inside him, he just kept hitting his prostate, it was too much. Lee gave himself a rough stroke and he was coming hard, grabbing onto Richard’s sides as he clenched around the other man’s cock. Richard gasped roughly and held Lee just as tightly back, thrusting through the younger man’s orgasm and shuddering a few deep thrusts after.

                Richard collapsed to one side of Lee after his orgasm, pulled off the condom, threw it in the bin next to the bed, and then didn’t bother to move out of the tangle of limbs Lee had encased him in. They lay there for several minutes before Richard realized that Lee’s shudders had turned to soft snores and then, all of a sudden, sleep seemed like the best possible idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went quite a bit smuttier than I had originally planned, but hopefully still on the right page! Richard seems a bit out of character to me, but I blame the alcohol ;) I hope you all enjoyed!!


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